Songs of the Leviathans Read online

  Except Melody failed in that.

  “I can hear Swallowtail muttering to herself,” Zuva said, interrupting Melody’s downward spiral into the past.

  Melody shook her head, running her hands across her bare skull as she checked the comm. Swallowtail was making a series of pops and clicks, normal Leviathan ‘muttering.’ She smiled. “Sleepy girl.”

  “Here baby girl, momma gonna sing you a lullaby.” Zuva opened the channel they used for Swallowtail and began to sing.

  It was the Alarans who had developed a way to translate humanoid noises and sounds into something Leviathans could ‘hear’ and vice versa. Their species understood how different environments could warp and change soundwaves and how to best work around that. It was human music that Swallowtail seemed to like best, particularly Zuva’s voice. Then again, everyone liked Zuva’s rich, velvety voice that turned every word into something decadent and luxurious. Every syllable was a plush jewel dropped down onto the diamond studded darkness as Zuva sang a lullaby to the Leviathan.

  “Ehuhwe nyarara mwana,” Zuva crooned. “Ehuhwe nyarara mwana.”

  It was beautiful and it made Swallowtail stop her muttering, the Leviathan falling silent as she listened to Zuva sing to her. A lullaby, one Zuva had sung to her own children when they were little. Melody could remember that clearly. Zuva had been another prisoner, except she had quickly given birth to twins, a boy and girl, and soon after another little boy. Just like they had wanted, but Zuva hadn’t been subdued or submissive. She had been the one who had gotten them out, along with her babies, finding a way to survive the experience and escape. Practically dragging Melody along with her because by then Melody had given up.

  She had been beautiful, but not strong.

  “Ehuhwe nyarara mwana.”

  Melody pulled out a breakfast ration of something that was supposed to taste like eggs with toast and jam. It did have a berry taste to it, like strawberry flavored goo, and it looked like melted cheese. She waited until Zuva stopped singing, the Leviathan silent as they drifted quietly through space, following Swallowtail…to where? And what happened when it was time for Swallowtail to give birth? No Leviathan had ever been recorded giving birth. Certainly, the species was long lived, but they clearly reproduced in a similar fashion to humanoids. So, what happened when Swallowtail’s time came? And why had the Leviathans stopped giving birth in the first place?

  “Did you hear the final count from the ultrasound?” Melody hesitantly broke the silence.

  “28 babies.” Zuva sounded proud. “She’s gonna be a good momma.”

  “If they all make it,” Melody said, instantly hating herself when the words fell out and broke open in the peaceful silence the lullaby had left behind. “I’m sorry…I’m just worried. We don’t even know how Leviathans…do this.”

  Zuva was silent for a long time, long enough for Swallowtail to start muttering. “When I had my first two, I didn’t know what to expect,” she finally said softly, her words a melodic harmony to Swallowtail’s mumbling. “And when I had my third, I was still nervous. It’s…everyone tells you that the body knows what to do and it’s instinctual. But humans are more than instinct. We overthink everything.”

  “Yeah.” Melody laughed nervously. “I guess I don’t have to worry about overthinking it.”

  “Baby, I’m sorry.”

  Melody shook her head even though Zuva couldn’t see her. It was all instinct and reflex. “Don’t, I never wanted kids before and I certainly don’t want them after…after that. It was their luck that I turned out to be barren, eh? They go to all the trouble and expense to kidnap me and I can’t even give them kids.”

  “That bastard didn’t have to keep you after they found out.”

  “Oh, he had to,” Melody said bitterly. “He had paid too much money for me, too much pride. And I had humiliated him. He was never gonna let me get away after that. It was only because of you that—”

  Zuva interrupted Melody. “Don’t. It wasn’t just me; it was you too. It was Susanna and Winnie, it was Joy and Michelle and Kai. We all did it, we all escaped those bastards like I told you we would.”

  The shine of the small window staring out into space caught Melody’s eye. She could see her reflection, that same oval face with its perfect features. Except she was different, her head bare of its crown and her right eye crisscrossed with scars. The crimson glow of the cybernetic implant replacing her right eye glowed balefully in the window, a point of red, a drop of blood to forever remind her of how she had bled and lost everything.

  Now instead of hair, tattoos covered her skull, markings and symbols she had gotten at Savanna. Most of the women in LEaP had tattoos. Within her team, they all shared a tattoo of an elephant walking across a crimson sun with the word “Akashinga” stamped along the bottom to remind them of the origin of LEaP and the women who had come before them. The legacy they continued, though now instead of patrolling the grassy wildland of the African savanna, they flew through space alongside the iridescent sides of Leviathans. Many women of LEaP ended up getting an Akashinga tattoo to remember and honor the original Brave Ones.

  Melody had other tattoos as well, ten names listed across her right forearm.

  Aika

  Susanna

  Viola

  Joy

  Hae-Won

  Esperanza

  Shaza

  Venus

  Durra

  Janelle

  They glowed red when touched; the ones who had bled too much, but never forgotten for the blood they had shed. Melody absent-mindedly stroked one finger across the names, watching the letters flare a bright, lurid red against her dark skin. There were scars there too, wrapped around her wrist just below the names, matching the other scars on her left arm and the ones encircling around her neck. There had come a point when he had stopped caring about marring her beauty, once it had become clear how badly she had humiliated him with her useless body.

  “I know what you’re thinking, Mel, and stop it.” Zuva’s voice sounded sharp through the comm.

  Melody smiled despite herself, turning away from the window to bring up a view of Swallowtail on her viewscreen. “How do you know?”

  Zuva snorted. “Don’t try to hide it, we’ve known each other for over a decade now.”

  “And a long one it’s been.”

  “Brat,” Zuva laughed. “So, tell me about your girl, the one at the waystation.”

  “Noel?” Melody winced at how easily her name had slipped from her lips. “She’s…she’s good.”

  “She treating you good?”

  More than I deserve, Melody thought as she said, “We’re good. Don’t worry, she…she understands.”

  Once Melody had fit her name, she had been like a bright and happy song. Now she no longer sang at all, her voice broken along with her spirit by what had happened. She had escaped, but every day she couldn’t help but think that she would never leave that planet. Too many pieces of herself had been left behind, torn out against her will and lost forever.

  ~~~

  “We have another Founder device coming up,” Keiko said.

  Melody shivered. What the Founders had left behind did not inspire awe or fascination with her. Instead the massive alien tech made her feel small and vulnerable, facing something so incomprehensible that scientists still couldn’t begin to even figure out how to turn the machines on, much less what they did.

  For some reason, Swallowtail was leading them all deep into Founder territory. The ancient alien race had left pieces of their tech and buildings all over the galaxy. Hell, some of it had even been found on Mars, but there was one distant part of the quadrant where you could find more complete remnants of their civilization. And it seemed like Swallowtail was heading straight into the heart of it. That made Melody uneasy, not necessarily the Founder part, but the fact that they had passed out of official UC territory and beyond the ragged edges of civilized space and into the unknown.

  And the Butchers k
ept coming.

  It was not uncommon to have an attack once a day now. Keiko had managed to pull up a communication between the poachers about Swallowtail’s pregnancy. Apparently, Leviathan fetuses and amniotic fluid were beyond priceless on the black market. There was a bounty on her head and on them as well, the ‘LEaP Bitches’ that kept her safe.

  “Looks like a part not whole,” Tiki said. “Broken maybe.”

  “Hard to tell with Founder shit,” Rosa replied. “We can’t begin to figure out what their stuff did much less if it’s broken or not.”

  “Founder devices are not broken,” Keiko responded brightly. She had a thing for Founder lore. “Scientists know that much. We just can not figure out how to turn it on.”

  Swallowtail led them close by the Founder device, her long body undulating through space gracefully. She flew so close that the device’s dark surface reflected the shimmering colors glowing along her sides. Leviathans were huge, hence their name, but next to the Founder device she looked so small. Almost like a minnow swimming alongside the massive dark side of an ancient sea monster. Limbs and tentacles reaching out into space, dark and frozen, yet still ominous in their very appearance.

  The Leviathan began to moan, red flashing in her eyes as she spun closer to the Founder device. Melody knew that particular song. “Butchers incoming.”

  They took formation, surrounding Swallowtail as she cried. Melody couldn’t help but feel pride in the smooth and rapid responses of her team. All of them working like pieces of a whole, seamless and perfect. Most days Melody felt shattered, cracked and barely holding it together. But when she was working, fighting, she was one piece of a whole. She was whole, surrounded by people who understood and had her back. Women who had proven that they would fight hard to protect what they loved. A team that would fight to protect her if they had to. She would never be a prisoner again.

  The Butchers came into view and Melody’s blood ran cold.

  “Oh damn…we got three ships,” Keiko said in a high, tight voice.

  “They’re firing!” Zuva shouted.

  “Rosa, Keiko, help me get down the shields on the first ship. Zuva, try to see if you can lead Swallowtail closer to the Founder device -- try to use it as cover. The rest of you keep the torpedoes from reaching her. Go!” Melody gritted her teeth and sent her Stinger flying toward the lead Butcher, her blood no longer ice as it started to burn in her veins.

  Torpedoes and lasers painted the dark expanse in bursts and streaks of light and color. Warning sirens screamed at Melody as one bright flash of blue laser fire streamed past her ship so close that it made the Stinger shudder. Too close, she shut off the alarms and focused on getting the shields down while trying to avoid being shot down in the process.

  “Keiko is down!” Rosa’s scream sent chills down Melody’s back. “She’s…she’s gone!”

  Melody bit her lip until she could taste blood, using that coppery taste and sharp pain to ground herself even as she sent her Stinger spinning around a burst of laser fire and down close to the Butcher. “Rosa, focus. We have to get the shields down.”

  “Mel—"

  “Rosa! We have a job to do. We have to protect her. Protect Swallowtail.”

  “Affirmative,” Rosa sobbed

  Melody wanted to cry herself, but there was no time for that. It wasn’t the first time she had lost someone in battle and it would not be the last. They had told her as much at LEaP when she had been given command of her own team. She would lose people, lose team-mates, but she couldn’t afford to lose her Leviathan.

  “I’m hit,” Zuva sounded strangely calm through the crackle and static of her failing comm. “Losing life support.”

  “Mei, go after—"

  Zuva cut her off. “No, you need…protect…tail.” Patches of static obscured some of her words. “I’m gonna…find…Founder…”

  Her voice ended in a burst of fizzing static and then there was nothing. Tears streamed Melody’s face as she screamed and sent a volley of photon bolts at the shield’s weak point. The shields collapsed and grimly she and Rosa targeted the thrusters and disabled the Butcher. But there were two other Butcher ships, and they had already lost two of their own. Red and now Zuva…Melody hastily wiped her face and focused on the second ship.

  Two ships were still more than they could handle, and Melody watched in horror as one torpedo made it to Swallowtail’s side. The Leviathan sang in pain, a high warbling cry, as her eyes flashed red and white. Another torpedo broke through their formation, heading straight for Swallowtail’s head.

  “Stupid ball-eaters!” Tiki shouted as she sped her stinger straight into the torpedo.

  The stinger and torpedo exploded in a starburst of light and heat and screams from the other women. The shields on the second Butcher ship were not falling fast enough, and now they were down three team-mates. Another torpedo clipped Swallowtail’s dorsal fin/ridge and her shrieking song filled Melody’s head until she was certain that her ears were bleeding. Melody wiped her ears and then face, feeling wetness on her skin but uncertain as to whether it was blood, sweat, tears or a combination of all three.

  Another voice joined the cacophony: a message from the Butcher ship. “Surrender. All we want is the Leviathan. We will let you all go if you simply let us have her.”

  Melody gritted her teeth. “No.”

  “It’s insanity what you’re doing here. You’re all going to die over a dumb animal. Just let us have her and you all can live. Or try to stop us and die. Your choice.”

  Just let us have her…

  Just let it happen…

  Run away coward…

  They couldn’t win this fight. Melody could already see that. Swallowtail was doomed to die once her guardians were dead. Melody could see the Leviathan still floating close to the massive side of the Founder device, singing her song of pain and terror. Crying, as Melody had done so many nights before. Begging for help…

  Melody’s blood began to boil and she gripped the controls tighter, shaking her head violently even though she knew the Butchers couldn’t see her. But her denial, her refusal, of the situation was so strong that she couldn’t simply say it.

  Melody began to fire faster at the shield’s weak point, a sharp pang of pride blooming in her heart as every single woman on her team continued to fight when one could simply and easily slip away. But that wasn’t what they were here for. The Butcher ship continued to message her, trying to bargain with her, and eventually Melody blocked the channel.

  Something began to ring in her ears -- a message flashing across her screen. It was Zuva and it only said three words:

  THERE’S A DOOR.

  “What?” Melody tried to reach Zuva on the comm but there was nothing. Nothing except for that enigmatic message.

  “Mel, a door just opened on the Founder device,” Mei said, her soft voice nearly drowned beneath the scream of laser fire and warning sirens. “Swallowtail and Zuva are going inside.”

  Melody had only seconds to make a decision. “Follow them.”

  The Stingers responded quickly, moving faster than the Butchers toward the small opening that had suddenly appeared along the massive side of the Founder device. Swallowtail was already inside, and the Stingers swarmed inside right as the door slid shut behind them.

  The inside of the Founder device was a cavernous dark maw, darker than the space outside as there were no stars or galaxies to add even a little light. Melody couldn’t make out any sort of distinct shapes or form to what surrounded them. Just darkness. And in the darkness Swallowtail glowed, lavender and gold shining along her body while her eyes were prismatic rainbows

  Beside one eye was Zuva, holding onto the Leviathan’s side as she floated in an emergency spacesuit.

  “Mei, pick up Zuva.” Melody wanted to cry, to laugh or even scream, but instead she kept her voice calm and her hands steady.

  While Zuva boarded Mei’s Stinger, Swallowtail began to glow brighter, brilliant sapphire bursts appearing a
mid the streaks of lavender and gold. Her tentacles twined and rippled in a strange dance as she sang, low murmuring notes and trilling high ones. The song was one Melody had never heard before, from any Leviathan.

  “That’s what she was doing before the door opened,” Zuva said over Mei’s comm.

  “What?”

  “Singing.” Zuva sounded amused. “Swallowtail sang and the door opened.”

  There was a flash of light and the Founder device came alive with lights glowing blue and white along the inside, machine parts starting to move and turn, and a burst of alien language filling their comms. A singing language that matched the tone and hum of Swallowtail’s song.

  “Stay with Swallowtail. We may not have any Butchers in here, but we still got a job to do,” Melody said as the Leviathan began to move off toward a cluster of machines along one side.

  Swallowtail seemed strangely calm, still singing and glowing as she approached a group of machines that mimicked her tentacles, long and black and gleaming with tiny white lights. Melody and the others kept watch as the machine’s appendages wrapped around Swallowtail while the alien voice over the comm continued to sing to her.

  It was then that Melody and her team learned that this particular Founder device was designed to help Leviathans give birth.

  ~~~

  “Such a good momma,” Melody crooned, watching Swallowtail groom one of her 28 babies with her tentacles.

  Nearly a year old and already the babies were bigger, much bigger than the Stingers that continued to escort them and their mother. They were now beginning to dwarf the bigger ships sent by UC scientists to study them, though like any Leviathan they showed no ill-will or violent intent toward their guardians and watchers.

  “Is that Monarch again? He gets dirty so easily,” Rosa laughed.